Tag: Inquiry
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Self-inquiry, Vivarta, And Ajata
Michael James has written a number of excellent long form essays (for example, here and here) about the ajata doctrine, the highest or ultimate nondual teaching according to Gaudapada, Ramana Maharshi, and others. The ajata doctrine states that there is no creation, manifestation, or origination. Being is only being. Period. I’d like to briefly lay…
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On Violence And Universal Love
In an ABC News interview following the shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, a neighbor, Pat Scallen, recalls how he ran from his house to the scene and sought to help in whatever way he could. Soon, he saw children running out of the building. According to ABC News, Scallen said the girl [who,…
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Self-control As An Aid For The Inward Turn
The nondual teaching says that one must turn inward in order to know that one is, right here and right now, being-peace. And yet, actually turning inward seems, at first, to be nearly impossible. I touch on this conundrum in this talk: The question then arises, “What is it that makes an inward turn possible?”…
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The Bogeyman Fallacy In Spirituality
When you’re a child, you might, at some point, become afraid of whatever goes bump in the night and, in particular, of the bogeyman. For a while, you might close your eyes and hope that by virtue of your falling asleep, he won’t appear. But this won’t do since sleeping children could still be bothered,…
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Where Are These Elders Of Which You Speak?
I’m currently reading Shannon Vallor’s fine book Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting (OUP, 2016). I’d like to pick up on a minor theme, one that frequently puzzled me when I’ve been reading certain kinds of academic books. It goes something like this: The theoretical discussion of the kind…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 